Learning Curve: Energy Audit Yields Big Savings for School
In 2020, when Detroit Country Day School decided to take a serious look at utility expenditures, it reached out to Tenurgy, the Petoskey-based telecom and utility expense management firm with the nationwide reach. It was a good move. “To our pleasant surprise, Detroit Country Day School is now in line to save over $120,000 annually between our electric, natural gas and telecommunications accounts,” explains Country Day Chief Financial Officer Patricia Brand.
“After providing copies of one month’s billings and a letter of authorization, Tenurgy’s team went to work on the audit process.” Brand continues, “One of the benefits of Tenurgy, even more so today [during COVID-19], is that they were able to work through and complete the audit remotely.”
Tenurgy founder and president Michael Harrington stresses the importance of not only understanding billings and contracts, but also of being proactive in the search for discrepancies, irregularities, and redundancies. “Companies should have utility audits for a number of reasons,” Harrington says. “Often, a business doesn’t understand that the line-item charges on a monthly statement could be adding up to unnecessary expenses. Sometimes, contracts and agreements are not in the best interest of the company and cost more than they should,” he explains. “And, what some businesses don’t realize is that they pay for these errors every month, and that can lead to substantial refunds that can be put toward other expenses, capital improvements, or research and development.”
A utility bill audit includes a rigorous investigation of utility invoices and contracts to determine any needed changes to services and to identify refunds if applicable. These comprehensive audits include everything from gas to electric, from water/sewer to telecommunications. And, “the Tenurgy Zero Risk FactorTM means that the client pays nothing if the audit fails to find savings or refunds,” Harrington shares. In fact, the biggest risk is in not having a utility audit completed by a reputable company. “To date, Tenurgy audits have helped clients realize savings and refunds in excess of 100 million dollars.” Significantly, “Ninety percent of our audits result in significant savings in water, gas, electric, waste, and/or telecommunications,”
“In today’s economic climate, the focus for schools should not be on utility billing accuracy, but instead on learning and educational resources,” Harrington, father of two elementary school students himself, expresses.
Detroit Country Day School will also benefit from Tenurgy’s long-term commitment to overseeing its utilities, so education, not utilities are the focus. “It is reassuring knowing that the Tenurgy team will continue to monitor our future utility and telecom programs, providing us the peace of mind that we will always have the optimal programs in place in this complex and ever-changing market,” Brand says.
“I would highly recommend Tenurgy’s services to any schools or other businesses looking to save on their utilities.”
Feeling overwhelmed with all the details? Analyzing utility bills is what Tenurgy does every single day. Schedule a 10- to a 15-minute virtual meeting. Tenurgy can share how simple it is to get started with a utility bill audit – risk free.